Ventilation

*Cheap literary ploy alert*

The following contains absolutely no information on, or discussion of, the finer points of ventilating a structure fire. 

Ha!  Fooled ya!

Rather, I'd like to take this time to discuss laundry. And, more directly, the denizens of laundromats. 

I'm speaking to you, madam. 

Allow me to vent. (See what I did there?). I live in a three-flat, an old house converted into apartments. There is a common laundry room available for the tenants to use. 

I choose not to use it. 

I choose to take my clothes to a local laundromat. 

I did a couple trial runs at local facilities before settling on this one. I like it, it's clean, well tended to and the young lady that works there is not only personable, she works hard to keep things tidy. On the rare occasions she needs to provide customer service, she does so gladly. 

Like today. The washer I chose malfunctioned, causing me to have to re-wash everything. She was apologetic and paid for the second wash without hesitation. 

Which brings me to the point (it may take a while, but I usually get to one) of this word salad. 

Lady using the only other machine the size I need, why in the name of all that is holy are you being so gentle taking your clothes out?  You do realize that shit is just going to get turned inside out again in the dryer don't you?  I mean, for Christ sake, both machines rotate in the same manner! You see the machine next to you is stopped, you saw the attendant and I pushing buttons and you heard her tell me to switch in to the next machine when it was empty. What. The. Hell. 

And btw, light colors are NOT slimming, I don't care what anyone has told you. 

So, here's a little insight into me. You know the saying "don't sweat the small stuff" right?  Small stuff causes me to lose my shit far more so than big stuff.  And I don't think it's necessarily job-induced either.  I'm pretty sure I've always been this way.  Ask my kids what I used to be like driving through St. Charles...  I recognize this is not something worth creating havoc over.  However, rational doesn't always apply to me.  

Somebody passes away, ok, I can get through that. I've done it. It's no fun, but I know I can handle that stress. Divorce?  I've been there more often than I care to acknowledge. But, yes, I can handle it. Something unexpected comes up that's waaaay more expensive than I'm prepared for?  Sigh. Ok. Let's address it and move on. 

Take approximately four minutes more than is the norm to empty your washing machine?  ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME HERE LADY!?!?  SERIOUSLY?  WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO ASSIST YOU IN GETTING YOUR SHIT OUT OF MY FRICKING WAY!?!?

Fortunately for me, I have, at my disposal, this alternative. 

Making the world a better, safer, kinder, gentler place through literature.

I feel better already. 

Peace